Specialized
Cactus Control
Tire

Product Description

User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Frank
from San Luis Obispo Ca.

Date Reviewed: July 10, 2001

Strengths: This is a great tire for $13.00. I've been riding Conti. Vertical Pros and like the cactus control better AS A REAR TIRE. Here in SLO the riding is very hard, dry, rutty, and rocky. The bottom line is that I don't slide around as much with the Cactus Control as I do with the Conti.s. And they roll faster and stear better. I use them front and back.

Weaknesses: The thing to remember is that the Cactus Control is made by Specialized and have all the typical Specialized problems; poor casings and a temdency to tear off knobs and destroy the tire. Specialized have good designs and poor quality. Same goes for their road tires.

Bottom Line:

Great but unfortunately disposable tire. Love the ride. Hate the quality. Works better on rocky hard pack than Conti. Vert Pro.s. Super REAR tire. Just wish it wouldn't tear so easily. The riding surface here can be very rough. Fun though. And for $13 from Nashbar you can't go too wrong.

Strengths: Size (bigger than ordinary MTB tires), Weight (average weight in spite of the large size).

Weaknesses: Molded a bit crooked.

Bottom Line:

Nashbar has these cheap as of 3/25/00. They seem to be discontinued. I think it's a great all-around tire for someone who wants to run lower pressures. The profile is somewhat rounded, but when you run 30-35 psi (like I do) you get a nice wide contact patch. The casing is holding up well against SoCal's sharp rocks. The sidewalls are thin and thorns puncture them easily (don't carry your bike and let it drag across the scrub).

I'm not sure what the others expected but this is not billed as nor is it designed to be a light DH tire, it is a fast rolling, large air volume XC tire and it does a great job of doing that. Use it as intended an it excels, good traction in almost all conditions except deep loam, ('cuz of shallow tread) other than that, they hook up great in 90% of all conditions. It's a great tire for big guys who need the extra air volume and with the kevlar bead their light at only 600 grams.

Weaknesses: The sidewalls split. they roll like tank tracks. Not much traction.

Bottom Line:

I read the specialized catolog and thought these would be great. They are not. directionaly unstable at any speed. Only fair traction for as large they are. Traction only gets worse when you lean them. Sidewall split for no good reason, I was lucky to make it home. The tread was molded crooked so it snaked back and forth as the wheel rotated. (yes they were seated right.) I haven't had any specialized tires since some old groundcontrols I still have on an old bike. Things sure have gone downhill since they made those tires. If you want the tires these were suposed to be, get some continental vertical pros.

Strengths: This is a wide comfortable tire that works well on a stiff aluminum hardtail. Despite their size(2.2), these tires are pretty fast rollers. With a Kevlar bead, these wide tires are also very light.

Weaknesses: Despite their wide girth, these are not grippy downhill tires. They have a rounded profile with pretty short knobs. They will not hold the earth during a heavy lean.

Bottom Line:

I just had to rescue these tires from the toilet reviews of the previous riders. Because these are wide tires(and yes they do measure an honest 2.2), riders are buying them as lightweight downhill treads. These are not dwonhill,aggressive tires! They re perfect for everyday trail riding in dry to moderately wet conditions. The short knobs shed mud well. And the wide girth of the tires provide a comfortable ride for hardtails. If you freeride down rutted, rocky downhills, don't buy this tire.

This tire is no way as big as you would think, it looks more like 2.I saw the web site and thought cool I'll never slide out with that and it will still fit my bike.But I was way wrong.Little stones get stuck in the holes in the knobbles and I'm just waiting until one of them wears through the tire because they're almost impossible to get out!Now I wished I had gone for the Tioga DH 2.3 because the reviews sound quite good and it's almost the same price.I've had it two weeks and it's wearing down badly, I just wish it would hurry up and give me an excuse to buy something else.